IOC permits 2012 athletes to use Twitter, blogs

Networking heavyweight Twitter has been noticed and picked up by Olympic officials. As such, they are allowing 2012 competitors to document and share their experiences with it.

It is truly a sign of the times as modern day internet communication - employed mainly by websites such as Facebook and Twitter - has officially made its way into the Olympics. Athletes who are poised to compete in the 2012 summer games will be granted the privilege to log their journeys via social networking. In fact, they'll be strongly encouraged to do so assuming their posts and blogs remain within the appropriate context.

The guidelines - established by the Australian Olympic Committee and issued by the International Olympic Committee - will require all of the athletes to write their Twitter posts and updates in the first person and not have them be put up for any commercial acquisition. All of those who are to participate in the games are prohibited from using vulgar language or images. According to a report by Reuters, if the terms are considered to be violated, the guilty party "could have their Olympic accreditation removed, which would effectively bar them from the games" to be held in London.

The IOC ruled in favor of tweeting and blogging after taking note of efforts the athletes have made to record their experiences during the Beijing games back in 2008. At the time even still images were banned for the most part. But now photographs "may be uploaded to social media sites, but not sold or 'otherwise' distributed."

Additionally, any media that may be distributed will be required to "respect the Olympic charter, which bans political demonstrations," albeit the fact that it isn't expected to be as big of an issue in London as it was in Beijing.

Finally, since the IOC relies very heavily on video and audio broadcasts for revenue, athletes will still be restricted from uploading any type of filmed footage from within the venue. The committee is "highly protective of their intellectual property in that regard." Anything taken outside of the stadium won't be seen as a breach of the rules though.